We had a really good turnout this week at Sportability for our first session after Half term. We started as always with a warm up led by Ray. Then it was time to grab a hockey stick and tennis ball to practice some Hockey skills.
​First up was some basic dribbling with the ball then some passing in pairs. Alan then introduced a game called Puppy in the Park. In this the puppy was the ball and the hockey stick represented the dog lead. The hall was marked out with cones and spots to denote where to walk the dog and where not to (roads etc). The task then was to walk the puppy in the right area by moving the ball around the hall.
After a drinks break it was on to some shooting practice before playing some one vs one games

After the main break we played some small sided games. In the first match Charlotte's team won against Kerrie's team. Kerrie's team then stayed on to play Valentina's team and won a close fought game. The last game was Charlotte's team versus Valentina's team which Valentina's team won. That meant that each team won one match each!​

We finished off the session with a couple of Golf Putting games. First they had to try and putt the balls in to the hoops. Then we played a cone game where they putted from behind a line and tried to hit as many cones as they could. The ones they hit they collected and the team with the most cones was declared the winner.

Our Star performers this week were Anand and Rhys, in only his second week. Well done to both boys - great effort.
See you all again next Saturday for more fun and action.

Our final session of the half term saw us practising our cricket skills.
We welcomed two new members this week - Sam and Rhys - welcome to you both!
Ray led the warm up as usual and then the kids paired up for some catching practice. They did a bounce pass to each other trying to catch the ball each time. Coach Alan then introduced a spot between each pair to try and hit with the ball with each throw.
After a quick drinks break the group split in to three with Ray, Ollie and Alan each leading a game of Champion. They would throw the ball to each player in turn. If they caught the ball they would move up the line but drop it and they move to the bottom of the line. The person at the top of the line when the game ended was crowned the Champion. Hal won in Ollie's group, Todd in Ray's group and new boy Sam in Alan's group.

We then focused on throwing at the wickets and fielding routines.
To start with the kids were tasked with picking up the ball from a cone, moving it to the next cone, running round the stumps and then moving the ball back. This helps with co-ordination and getting the kids used to picking the  ball up on the run.
We then did some throwing at the wickets practice, getting further away with each round. Lastly, we had a quick competition. Hit the stumps and you stay in but miss with your throw and you have to sit out. With each round we moved the ball further away. The winner was Todd who was the only person to hit the stumps from the furthest position away. Well done Todd!

After the break we played a couple of games of Three Tee Cricket. The group split in to two teams and each took a turn to bat or field. Each batter hit each of three balls of a tee. They then had to get as many runs between the wickets in the time it takes the fielding team to return the tees and the balls to their starting positions. Alan then added up all the runs scored by each player for a grand total for each team. The first game ended 58 to 51 in favour of Zakaa's team. The second game was also won by Zakaa's team, this time 53 to 44.

We finished off with some games of Boccia with the last game ending in a 3-3 tie

Our stars of the week this week were Todd and new boy Sam - well done lads!

We are off for half term next week so will be back on Saturday 25th at 10am - we look forwards to seeing you all then!

We had a fantastic turnout this week and played the sport of Volleyball, which we have not played for quite a while.
The session started as always with a warm up led by Ray. Alan then did some warm up exercises using cones scattered around the hall. These involved stretching down and touching the cones as you moved around the hall. He then introduced a count so that if he called out three the kids would have to bend down and touch 3 cones as quickly as possible.

For the volleyball, we started by using the benches laid out along the middle of the hall. The kids were then grouped either side of a bench based on ability. They started by doing bounce passes to each other across the bench. 

They then moved on to hitting the ball back with the palm of their hands rather than catching and throwing. The idea being to get an accurate rally going with the ball going back and forth and trying not to hit it in any other direction!
We then progressed to using tennis nets and getting some good rallies going!

After the break we played King of the Court Volleyball style. A coach would throw the ball over the net to where the kids were lined up to take a turn. They had to hit the ball back with the palms of their hands, volleyball style, and get it back in to the court without being caught. Ollie and I were there to try and catch them out with a one handed catch. After some practice rounds we started the games and if you were caught out or failed to get the ball back over the net and in to the court then you were out and became part of the catching team. Last person standing was the winner. Davina won the first game and Justin won the second. Well done both!

Our star performers this week were Pranav and Kealan - well done boys!

See you again next Saturday for more fun and games!